Saturday, October 23, 2010

Now that the Rep. Jimmy Moran Youtube video rant that “military service is not public service” has gone viral on the Internet, I’m delighted to see it’s getting a little “ink.” As a retired 30 year service Army Colonel who was a 2LT in Vietnam before I was old enough to legally drink, I’m appalled by “Little Jimmy's” comment on the service record of his opponent, retired U.S. Army Col. Patrick Murray, in the VA 8th Congressional District race. On 6 Oct, "Little Jimmy" stated, "What [Republicans] do is that they find candidates - usually stealth candidates - that haven't been in office, haven't served or performed any kind of public service. My opponent is typical." COL Murray served his country for 24 years in the U.S. Army with four combat zone deployments including Iraq as part of the 2007 troop surge.

See what Moran really said: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDMb9ewX90U

That Moran thinks 24 years of service in the Army is not equivalent to public service appalls me but I would note that he was born 16 May 1945 so was of prime draft age for Vietnam. Has anyone asked “Little Jimmy the Draft Dodger” how he avoided Military Service? The real definition of audacity is for “Little Jimmy” to even mention Military Service but early this month “Little Jimmy” had some explaining to do when he falsely claimed an endorsement from the Disabled American Veterans Association and a high rating from the Military Officer's Association. MOAA had to order Moran to stop using its name in support of his campaign efforts.

Like his mentor, good old Joe "5-Deferment" Biden (and Dick Cheney I might add to be fair), it appears "Little Jimmy" did everything short of maiming himself (which he didn’t have the guts to do) to dodge the Draft during Vietnam. By comparison, COWARDs like these guys make “George W" look like a war hero! (For the record, Bush flying antique Air National Guard Convair F-102s was probably in more danger than I was during an extended CIB-earning tour in Vietnam!).

Active military service was an absolute certainty for any male born between 1940 and 1949 unless he was morally, mentally or medically unfit, or took some overt action to "dodge" the draft. THAT IS A FACT. Draft dodging does not necessarily mean “illegal” as the Webster’s Dictionary of the time defined it as simply “avoiding military service.” Applying for student or occupational deferments, leaving the country, feigning homosexuality, or signing up for the Reserves or National Guard were all things people did, legally and illegally, to avoid performing active duty. Some people (like Biden) got their family doctor to “discover” a disqualifying physical malady and put up such a fight that they successfully got their induction cancelled.

Also, consider draft quotas were assigned by draft board. When one man evaded, someone else, often less educated or advantaged and always less eligible, served in his place. Because many of the more capable natural leaders avoided service, we often had to settle for the LT Cally's of the world for leadership. Think of how many American lives could have been saved if leaders of Moran, Cheney or Biden’s potential had done their duty. Isn't it ironic how correct Pres Clinton was when he used to say that "it's the little guy who plays by the rules that always ends up taking it in the neck."

My point, when a politician who was eligible for Vietnam tells you that he just wasn’t called or wasn’t physically fit to serve, he’s normally being dishonest and not fit to serve now either. I remember how Senator (and Medal of Honor recipient) Bob Kerrey put it in 1992 when he said “as I remember it, at that time if you could walk and chew gum, the military would take you.” If Moran wasn’t fit to serve when his country needed him during Vietnam, what makes him fit to serve now? Better still, what makes him more fit to serve than combat vet COL (Ret) Pat Murray?

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Who had the worst week in Washington? Vice President Biden (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100802906.html) - was an article in the 9 Oct 10, Washington Post about VP Biden's latest gaffs and reading it inspired me to select some of my favorite “Biden-isms” that demonstrate how really dumb he is. Good Old VP Joe “5 Draft Deferment” Biden is the quintessential political idiot and “Consummate Gaff-mister” with so many of them they could fill a bookshelf so selecting my favorites was not an easy task.

Every time VP Joe “5-Deferment” Biden speaks, I listen with anxious anticipation as I am confident he will commit some “world-class” gaffs to provide comic relief. Joe "5-deferment" is the reason every American should pray every evening for Obama's good health! He will go down in history as the dumbest and most inept vice president of all times; by comparison he makes Palin look smart and Dan Quayle absolutely brilliant.

In defense of the Vice President, he doesn't commit these gaffs on purpose; he just isn't bright enough to avoid them. President Obama probably selected him as a running mate in part to fill the role of designated "butt of jokes" for the late night comedians -- a role for which he has proven to be ideally suited and eminently well qualified. The Obama challenge will be "Hidin Biden" in 2012! With his history of gaffs, plagiarism, draft dodging and other dumb stunts, I can't imagine Biden every being president. Hence, replacing him with Hillary isn’t all that much of a stretch.

A quick Google search yielded this collection of amusing yet cringe-worthy "Bidenisms" made during the vice president's more recent political career. Actually, some of his best “one-liners” go back years but these should suffice to illustrate Joe “5-Deferment” is NOT ready for Prime Time:

-- On 12 Mar 12 - As an update to show old Joe has not lost his touch for the absurd, on 12 Mar 2012 he spoke at a fundraiser at the Georgetown home of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and his Billionaire wife where he criticized Republicans by saying: “These guys don’t have a sense of the average folks out there. They don’t know what it means to be middle class.” Of course Joe was addressing a crowd of Obama supporters that paid a minimum of $10,000 per couple to dine on grass-fed New York strip steak and white truffle mashed potatoes. The closest any of this crowd ever got to talking to anyone in the middle class was at their country club when they asked their caddy to hand them a putter!

-- On 23 Mar 10, the VP got caught on an open mike dropping the “F-Bomb.” After introducing President Obama to a group of whooping Democratic lawmakers at the health care bill signing, Biden could be heard telling his boss, "This is a big F**king deal!"

-- On 13 March 09 he also did it, Biden addressed a former Senate colleague by saying, "An hour late, oh give me a F**king break," after he arrived on Amtrak at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The vice president's expletive was caught on a live microphone.

-- On NBC's "Today" show on 30 Apr 09 during the Swine Flu scare, Biden said he's advising his own family to avoid "confined places" -- to stay off commercial airlines and even subways -- because of the new swine flu. He said if one person sneezes on a confined aircraft, "it goes all the way through the aircraft." Asked whether the government should close the border with Mexico to try to slow the spread of the flu, Biden said health authorities advise that would be impractical because the swine flu has already spread to the U.S. and several other nations. Instead, he says people should focus on confined places where the flu could spread quickly, such as airplanes, malls and classrooms.

-- During a 25 Feb 09, interview on CBS' "Early Show," Biden encouraged viewers to visit a government-run Web site that tracks stimulus spending. When asked for the site's web address, Biden could not remember the site's "number." "You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?" he asked an aide standing out of view. "I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed." (I’m astounded to hear Joe “5-Deferment” could get embarrassed”)

-- At a 30 Jan 09, swearing-in ceremony of senior White House staff, Biden mocked Chief Justice John Roberts for his presidential oath blunder on Inauguration Day. "Am I doing this again?" Biden said, after Obama asked him to administer the oath. When Biden was told the swearing-in was for senior staff -- and not cabinet members -- the vice president quipped, "My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts," prompting a stern nudge from Obama. He then proceeded to stumble over the oath himself.

-- On Inauguration Day, 20 Jan 09, Biden told a cheering crowd of supporters, "Jill and I had the great honor of standing on that stage, looking across at one of the great justices, Justice Stewart." Justice John Paul Stevens -- not Stewart -- swore Biden in as vice president. I’m sure to Joe “5-Deferment,” in Black robes they all look the same.

-- In a 22 Sep 08, On CBS News during an interview with Katie Couric, Senator Biden said "Part of what being a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate what he or she knows what they are talking about and to communicating to people .... When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'" Two problems with Biden’s “history,” when the market crashed in 1929 Herbert Hoover -- not Roosevelt -- was president. Roosevelt wasn’t president until 20 April 1933 and Television hadn’t been invented yet…. Other than that Biden got it right.

-- During a 12 Sep 08, speech in Columbia, Mo., Biden called for Missouri State Sen. Chuck Graham, who is wheelchair-bound, to "stand up." "Oh, God love ya," Biden said, after realizing his mistake. "What am I talking about?"

-- At a 10 Sep 08, town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., Biden said, "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me." (This one might yet come true)

-- Biden mistakenly referred to Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the "lieutenant governor" of her state during a town hall meeting on 4 Sep 08 at George Mason University in Manassas, Va. "I heard a very, by the way I mean this sincerely, a very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska who I think is going to be very formidable, very formidable not only in the campaign but in the debate," Biden said.

-- Biden said he was running for president -- not vice president -- during a 1 Sep 08, roundtable discussion in Scranton, Pa. "Today is the moment for me as a United States senator running for president to put aside the national politics and focus on what's happening down there," Biden said.

-- Biden referred to John McCain as "George" during his vice presidential acceptance speech on 27 Aug 08, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co. "Freudian slip, folks, Freudian slip," he explained.

-- Also during this VP Nomination acceptance speech, Senator Biden made a major gaff in the eyes of most of us with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Military, he demonstrated he didn't know the difference between a battalion and a brigade when speaking about Obama's plan for sending troops to Afghanistan. I don't really blame Senator Biden for his Military ignorance because, although a year younger and more draft eligible than even Dick Cheney, he managed to dodge the draft and avoid Vietnam so shouldn't be expected to know anything about the military. Who should be blamed is the legion of handler around him that vetted his speech and should have caught the gaff! This is so basic to anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Military that this would indicate none of Biden's advisors are veterans. I realize being in the company of brave vets is difficult for those who avoided service but if one aspires to be the Vice President of the United States, he should put aside petty pride and surround himself with at least one Vet to avoid gaffs like this one.

-- During his first campaign rally with Obama as his vice presidential running mate on 23 Aug 08, Biden introduced Obama by saying, "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States -- Barack America!"

-- During the VP Debate Biden said that "all the powers and responsibilities of the executive branch are laid out in Article I of the Constitution.” – Well Sorry Joe, , they're not. Article I of the Constitution is the one on the legislative branch. Joe's been chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a member of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate for 36 years, teaches constitutional law back in Delaware, and can't keep straight which article of the Constitution provides for the legislature and which provides for the executive. Maybe Joe “5 deferment” should be taking instead of teaching Constitutional Law?

-- On 31 Jan 07 -- the day Biden announced his presidential bid -- the Delaware Senator was roundly criticized for calling Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Although President Obama may have originally selected him as a running mate to fill that “all important” role of designated "butt of jokes" for the late night comedians – his shtick is beginning to wear a little thin which is why replacing him with Hillary for the 2012 ticket isn’t all that much of a stretch.

Friday, October 8, 2010

With the departure of General James Jones as the National Security Advisor, the ONLY person in the West Wing that has ever donned a uniform in defense of this nation is gone. Something most troubling about this administration is its total lack of diversity when it comes to Veterans as Obama's is truly a "Vet-less Administration" when it comes to his inner circle. I suspect it's the "Veteran void" that has allowed the administration to blunder early on into such ill conceived schemes as billing veterans’ private insurance for combat connected disabilities and his DHS Secretary accusing Veterans of being prospective Terrorists. President Obama makes President Clinton’s abysmal 5% West Wing Vets look pretty good but not quite as good as President Bush 41’s 34%. I started to review the resumes for the Cabinet appointees but after looking at about 10% became disgusted and quit. Only in VA, State and Defense did I find any Vets at all and in places like Justice, several of the appointees were actually hostile to the Military with records of supporting anti-military causes and suing the Department of Defense or the services. Even the Washington Post recently noted this administration has the fewest Vets in the Cabinet since the Hoover Administration.

To take the measure of a man, look at his actions instead of listening to his rhetoric. One indication of how the Commander-in-Chief Obama feels about his Military is to analyze who he feels comfortable having closely around him. Despite his public utterances of support for the Military and Vets, even those of prime Vietnam era draft age like his new Chief of Staff, Peter Rouse, managed to avoid any brush with danger during their youth. Not even his new National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon has ever served. For that matter, no one on his entire National Security team has one day of Military experience. It is always easier to send others into harms way when neither you nor any of your loved ones have ever gone or probably ever will.

Our first indication of how candidate Obama felt about the Military should have been his choice for Vice President. When he selected good old Joe "5-Deferment" Biden he showed he valued draft dodging over Military Service! Of course, Joe’s demonstrated his Military Expertise by the way he skillfully avoided any brush with armed conflict during his youth when he successfully dodged the draft and Vietnam (he and Dick Cheney did everything short of maiming themselves which neither had the guts to do – I guess it’s a prerequisite for VP). By comparison, Biden made "W" look like a war hero! (For the record, Bush flying antique Air National Guard Convair F-102s was probably in more danger than I was during an extended CIB-earning tour in Vietnam!)

I suspect eventually as his reelection nears, for survival President Obama will be forced to hire at least a few Vets to help prevent him from repeating those boneheaded blunders like billing veterans’ private insurance for combat disabilities or allowing his DHS Secretary to accuse Vet of being potential Terrorists -- Ray Charles could have seen what the public reaction was going to be to these preposterous utterances but the Presidents “Vet-less” inner circle allowed it anyway. Including a Vet in his decision circle could have pointed out the obvious and avoided some embarrassment.

All Americans should encourage President Obama to add a little “diversity” to his administration and set an example for the rest of the country by hiring a few Vets. It might even have the serendipitous effect of lowering the Veteran unemployment rate. Now that would truly be “Change we can believe in!"

I am not opposed to registration and some reasonable limits on ownership such as terrorists, ex-cons and the mentally unstable but there should be no restrictions on owning or carrying a gun by average citizens – anywhere in the US. There is a “God-given” right of self protection and a gun is an exercise of that right. One has to go no further than right here in our own DC-area backyard to clearly demonstrate that contrary to liberal rhetoric, “guns actually do make us safer.” Case in point, Virginia has by far the laxest gun laws and the least gun violence of any of the surrounding jurisdictions. Additionally, the DC homicide rate has been declining ever since the Supreme Court ordered the loosing of DC gun ownership laws. Is the fact that this dramatic drop coincided with this landmark decision coincidence or might there be a cause-effect relationship? Could it be criminals are not so anxious to murder law abiding citizens if they might be "packing heat?"

A cursory analysis of the stats in a January Washington Post front page article: “Homicide totals in 2009 plummet in District, Prince George's” demonstrates that there is a dramatically inverse relationship between homicide rates and restrictions on gun ownership. Using the most recent 2008 population figures from the US Census Bureau and the Stats in this article, DC has 591,833 people and had 140 homicides in 2009 for a rate of 23.7 per 100,000 people. The two Maryland DC-suburbs of Montgomery County (950,680) and Prince George’s County (820,852) have 1,771,532 with 113 homicides for the same period for a rate of 6.4 per 100,000. The three Virginia suburbs of Alexandria City (143,885), Arlington County (209,969) and Fairfax County (1,015,302) have 1,369,156 people with 18 homicides for a 1.3 per 100,000 rate.

This reveals that a person would be fortunate to live in Virginia where gun ownership and open carry is almost unrestricted because a DC resident, where guns are still very restricted, is 18.2 times more likely to be a homicide victim. Even a Marylander, with moderately strict gun laws, was 3.7 times less likely to be a homicide victim than a DC resident. Much better than DC but a Marylander is still 4.9 times more likely to be a homicide victim than one of us “gun tottin” Virginians.

The obvious message in these statistics - guns make us more and not less safe.

If President Obama is genuinely contemplating a shakeup of his White House, I hope he decides to include at least one Veteran - something sorely lacking in his present line up. With General James Jones’ departure, NO One in the West Wing has ever served in the Military

And who is replacing General Jones? Thomas E. Donilon! Not only is he a Biden political hack totally unqualified for the job but his main claim to fame is he was the Executive Vice President for Law and Policy at Fannie Mae (the federally-chartered mortgage finance company that caused the financial melt down) from 1999 to 2005 where he made millions by supervising Fannie Mae's lobbying against increased regulation. He was accused of painting an unrealistically rosy picture of how the company was doing and of supervising an “aggressive backdoor lobbying campaign … to undermine the credibility of a probe into the firm's accounting irregularities,” according to ABC News. Immediately prior to his appointment to the Obama Administration, Donilon was a partner in the Washington law firm O'Melveny & Myers, where his previous year's income reported by The Wall Street Journal was $3.9 million; his clients included Citigroup, Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker – dubbed by the NY Times as a “supreme Tax Cheat.” When the NYT calls a Dem a "Tax Cheat," you have to be "World-Class" at it!

In keeping with the practice of his Administration, the President found another consummate Draft Dodger (to keep the Supreme Draft Dodger – VP Joe “5-deferment” Biden - company) to fill the very important White House Chief of Staff position – 64 year old Peter Rouse. Stop listening to the Obama rhetoric of how he loves the Military and look at his actions if you want to know how he really feels about us. I invite everyone to drilled down on the WaPo “Inside the West Wing” graphic to read the detailed bio’s on all Obama appointees.

President Obama makes President Clinton’s abysmal 5% Vets look pretty good but not quite as good as President Bush 41’s 34%. I started to review the resumes for the Cabinet appointees but after looking at about 10% became disgusted and quit. Only in VA, State and Defense did I find any Vets and in places like Justice, several of the appointees were actually hostile to the Military with records of supporting anti-military causes and suing the Department of Defense or the services.

Early on in the Obama Presidency after noticing this trend I called it to the Washington Post's Al Kamen’s attention because he was routinely reporting on the “diversity” of President Obama’s appointees. He was tracking gender, race, business experience and every other category including shoe size but could not be bothered with Veteran status. In an E-Mail exchange when I challenged him on this, he promised he would research it and report on that stat also. Almost 2 years have pasted and Al hasn’t fulfilled his promise! THANKS AL!